


A Kiss in The Moonlight

by pastarc



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-23
Updated: 2018-08-23
Packaged: 2019-07-01 12:48:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15774432
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pastarc/pseuds/pastarc





	A Kiss in The Moonlight

     Phone in hand, the veins in his body boiling with hot blood, Draco Malfoy was ready to shout as loud as he could, no matter what his neighbors thought of it.

     “I CANNOT BELIEVE you would do that, Pansy!”

     “What?” Pansy nonchalantly retorted; her usually sarcastic tone of voice muffled through the phone.

     “Would you care to explain why there’s a pending request for a payment for a cruise across the Adriatic just sitting here in my mailbox?”

     “C’mon Draco. We both know you’re a goddamn workaholic. If I’d just requested you take some fucking break for once in your life, you’d probably say no.”

     “You assumed correctly.”

     “Well, if you must know, Blaise backs me up on this.”

     “Did you really drag him into this? You’re insufferable, you know.”

     “Yeah, but I’m insufferable for your own good. Just take the vacation, will you?” Pansy pushed on.

     “Yeah, but you know the amount of wor–-” Draco still tried to wriggle himself out of the situation.

     “I will NOT hear it. You know this could be detrimental to your health. You know that. Do it for your friend’s sake, will you? Please?”

     Draco could now physically envision Pansy’s large, black puppy eyes looking up at him. He took a deep breath.

     “Fine.”

                                                          *

     Harry was very suddenly (and rather rudely) woken up from a heavy sleep on an early weekend morning.

     Throwing on a bathrobe, still rubbing his eyes, he opened the door to a mailman handing him a note.

     “Here’s your invite, sir!” he exclaimed in an overly exuberant voice, way too exuberant for such an early morning.

     “Invite?” Harry scratched his head, slightly bemused, voicestill groggy.

     “Yes, sir!” the mailman  shouted officially, before quickly turning around on his heel and storming off. “Have a great day!”

     Yeah, right.

     Harry slammed the door behind him, idly beginning to open the invite. It seemed to come with a small note next to it, written in an extremely neat, but rather sharp handwriting. It could only belong to one person.

     “ _Dear Harry,_  
     Please take this as a gift. We hope you enjoy it.  
     Regards,  
     The Granger-Weasleys”

     Hermione, of course. Harry’s eyes suddenly shot open as he laid his eyes upon an invite to a cruise across the Adriatic. This was too much. His hand suddenly shot towards his phone. But then he remembered – there was probably no point in arguing with Hermione, all of this was probably already set in stone. He sighed. He had no choice but to pack his bags and head towards the airport.

                                                        *

     On top of Draco’s priorities, punctuality held a pretty high spot, considering he was a full-blown workaholic. Organization was the key to everything he ever did – even vacation. So it came as no wonder he had rented hotel room in Split, a day before the actual trip.

     He had decided on a light supper – some prosciutto, a few olives, and some white wine – while observing the itinerary. Luckily for him, the trip did not seem to long – it would start in Split, after which they would move on up, towards Pula, after Pula, they’d stop at Venice, move on down the Italian coast and finally come back full circle, cruising into Split again. All of this would play out throughout one week.  

     The resentment he had felt towards Pansy slowly started fading away – after all, she did well to watch out for the cruise to be well tailored according to his tastes.

     Two cocktail bars on the ship – one on the inside, the other on the deck, a large entertainment hall adjunct to a dance hall, live music, and a suite or himself only, equipped with high quality entertainment, a Jacuzzi, and a mini-bar filled completely with nothing but good wine.

     Who knows, maybe this vacation will prove not to be such a waste of time?

                                                         *

     For the most part of his flight Harry still felt a great amount of discomfort, which had less to do with a gross old man chowing down on a burger that was sitting next to him, and more to do with the fact that he wasn’t accustomed to these kinds of lavish vacations. All throughout he kept on mulling over in his mind on how he was ever going to repay Ron and Hermione. This left him jittery, up until they finally landed in Split. One whiff of the sea air and all his troubles and anxieties seemed to have melted away.

     He allowed his skin to soak up the war sunshine, as he sat down for a cup of coffee at the seafront, in front of the mighty boat. Everything about it seemed so grand, so expensive.  He looked down on his wristwatch. One hour until they left off.

     He took another deep breath.

     “Maybe I’ll even end up enjoying this.” he thought calmly to himself.

                                                       *

     By the time everyone had started boarding on, it was already well past 8 pm. The sun had already started slowly setting, painting the sky orange and purple, leaving the sea below glistening. Draco promised himself not to get pissed by the crowd. He was determined to enjoy the soft, briny breeze caressing his cheeks, as he made his first step on the deck.

     A nice, hot shower first, maybe, then supper – and after that, he may even play some cards at the casino. He was utterly adamant to enjoy himself and make the best of this forced vacation.

     So, as he does with all of his plans – he followed it through, detail by detail. After freshening up a bit, and changing clothes, he sat down for a supper. Smoked salmon? Perfect.

     In the far right corner of the dining hall, staying as far away from other people as possible, he dove straight into eating.

     And _wow_ , Pansy knew exactly what she was doing. This thing melted on the tongue as butter. For a slight moment, he was in a state of ecstasy, completely disassociated from everything that was happening around him.

     Until his eyes detected a flicker of a familiar staunch, but tall figure entering the hall, the top of it adorned with lush, coal-black hair. Could it be? No, he refused to believe it.

     He rushed to finish his supper and ran out towards the casino. A nice game of blackjack, some scotch, and then off to bed. Yeah, that’s it.

                                                       *

     Right after Harry had boarded the cruise ship, he became fully aware of just how hungry he was. He never had much stomach for airplane foods. A bit of refreshing was in order first. Once he had entered his on-suite bathroom, he realized it had a hot-tub next to the shower. Really, Granger-Weasleys? A hot-tub? Well, might as well use it while it’s here. This was the first time, Harry reckoned, he allowed himself a luxury, in his entire life. Right, now. Off to clench his hunger.

     A pragmatic, hand dandy sort of guy, he had absolutely no desire to indulge himself in complex dishes. Like always, he made up his mind on ordering pizza. He was acquainted with a rather chatty Italian couple, and was bent on avoiding them at all costs. This is why he had scanned the room fully, as soon as he walked in. In the corner of his eye, he seemed to have caught a glint of rather familiar slick, blond hair, but had decided to discard it. He will not have his supper ruined by anyone.

     And the supper was indeed magnificent. The crust of the mussel pizza was so thin, but so crisp at the same time, it provided an almost perfect crunch.

     “Some wine, sir?” a waiter approached him.

      Harry sighed. “Sure, why not?”

     After dinner, he stepped out onto deck. Night had already fallen deeply. The soft breeze carried the fragrance of the Mediterranean over to him – all of the shrub, and the evergreen trees, and the smell of open sea, from which the silver moon and the stars glimmered off. Before crashing into bed from his exhausting flight, he simply decided to stand there and take it all in.

                                                         *

     By day three, they had reached Pula. In the late evening, quite a large crowd had gathered out on the deck. The live band had been playing jazz, and the atmosphere was relaxed and everyone was too busy grabbing for cocktails to actually make a buzz, which was right up Draco’s alley.

     A _Bloody Marry_ in hand, he slowly bobbed his hair to the music, loitering around, when he noticed him.

     Eyes wide open, Harry stood there completely frozen, seemingly also getting the surprise of a lifetime.

     “Oh, for God’s sake.” he muttered under his breath. One of the reasons he thought he’d be able to enjoy this journey was because he knew absolutely nobody. And now, out of all people,  _he_  decided to pop up out of nowhere?

     He became bent on avoiding him, so he quickly tottered into the casino and sat down at the poker table. Downing his cocktail, he snapped his finger for a scotch.

     At the snap of his fingers, next to the waiter, Harry appeared to sit down next to him - silently, smoothly, like an apparition.

     “How much to chip in?” he asked the dealer.

     “Five hundred euros, sir.”

      Draco gave Harry a sneer, with just a subtle hint of a snarl, thinking the man was probably to frugal to actually start playing.

     “Alright.” Harry’s retort gave him another big shock.

     He clenched his jaw, and turning his face away from Harry, avoiding looking him in the eyes.

     “So, what brings you here?” Harry casually asked, while nodding to the dealer he wished to change three of his cards.

     Draco gave a light snort, while indicating he wished to change two.

     “Parkinson.” he murmured, while looking down at the table.

     Harry raised his eyebrow and simply grinned at Draco’s direction. “Granger.” he remarked simply.

     Draco gave a light chuckle, and in no time, both men gave a wholehearted laugh, drawing eyes from across the room, and from the dealer himself.

     “Alright, gentlemen, show your cards.”

     Draco revealed his. “Two pair,” the dealer announced.

     “A straight. The gentleman wins.” he announced louder, as Harry revealed his hand.

     “I didn’t know you played poker well.” Draco said, with a rising intonation.

     “Well, it seems there’s a lot you don’t know about me. Let’s play on.”

     The pair continued to play well into the night, and well after the jazz quartet had stopped playing outside.

                                                          *

     The very next evening, they had sailed into Venice.

     Both men were sitting down to have dinner together, both looking their sharpest.

     Draco insisted on buying lobster for both of them.

     “You rely too much on fast food, I see. I think you deserve a taste of actual fine dining, for once.” he exclaimed.

     Harry graciously accepted. Midway through their meal, and after more than a few glasses of wine, they were sharing a laugh again.

     “So, you’re saying this was a gift? Pansy, that lowlife, made me pay all this myself!”

     “Well, it’s not like you’re not exactly not well off, right?”

     “Right, right.”

     A moment of awkward silence ensued. Draco decided to break it with a question.

     “I think the better question is how exactly the Granger-Weasleys were able to afford this? I’ve heard they have another child under way, correct?”

     “Yes, you’ve heard correctly. But Hermione landed a really nice promotion quite recently – and you know her, if she weren’t legally obliged to take a maternity leave, she’d probably still be working.”

     “Yeah, yeah – I can remember her being diligent like that. What about you, though. Out here alone, I see.” Draco coughed out.

     “Could ask you the same.”

     It became obvious that for the rest of the dinner, they had quite a lot to catch up on.

     When, at last, they stepped out on the deck, a magnificent view of Venice opened up to them. The moon shone brightly and fully over its rooftops.  

     Harry leaned over to peer over at the black sea. Everything was utterly still.

     “That was a lovely dinner. Thank you.” he turned to Draco.

     Draco edged over closer to him. The moonlight sparkled off his blond hair, just as well as off his grey, cool eyes.

     “No. Thank  _you_.”

     Something inside Harry’s stomach started pulling him towards Draco.

     Without a moment of hesitation, Draco’s thin lips pressed against Harry’s full lips and the pair embraced in a soft, long kiss, under the watchful eye of the moon.

     Like cued, the string quartet started playing a slow waltz.

     As they walked over to the center of the deck, both seemed to have thought – at the very same moment – they got more out of this trip then they bargained for, and a split second, both wished with all their might it didn’t have to end soon.


End file.
